A personal computer typically comprises a motherboard on which a CPU, main memory, and a plurality of expansion slots are disposed. The CPU and main memory may be referred to as the "host". In order to couple the host to a device (for example, a hard disk), a printed circuit board called a "host adapter card" is typically plugged into one of the expansion slots. The host adapter card is typically coupled to the hard disk via a ribbon cable and a bus (such as a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus) and is coupled to the host via the expansion slot and a system bus (such as the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus)). The host therefore can read data from and write data to the hard disk through the host adapter card. Many functions of the host adapter card (such as a PCI bus interface for interfacing to the host and a SCSI bus interface for interfacing with a hard disk) may be integrated into a single integrated circuit called a "host adapter integrated circuit" which is disposed on the host adapter card.